There’s a new bug in town, and it’s called the cloth diaper bug. Haven’ you heard? 😉

In an effort to be cost conscious and environmentally friendly, I have decided to jump on the cloth diapering bandwagon. To simplify things, this is an excerpt I took from lampinkain.com

Why Cloth Diaper?

Cloth diapers are easy to use and it just take a little effort.

Cloth Diapers have evolved. Cloth diapers now are elasticized, waterproof breathable and equipped with Velcro-like closures or snaps. They are just as easy to use as disposable diapers but it is washable.

But wait, does an extra load of laundry sounded like a prison sentence to you? Honestly speaking, yes it does take a little effort. Using cloth diaper do means extra of 2 – 3 loads of laundry. But trust me that washing it is just a breeze.

Cloth Diapers Are Cheaper Than Disposable Diapers

At first glance, the price is expensive. Cloth diapers have a pricey start-up cost.

But wait. Let’s do some calculations before making any conclusions.

As a rule of thumb, a new born baby will use up to 12 diapers per day. An older baby will need around 8 diapers a day until potty training.

On average, cost of average brand diaper in Malaysia RM0.50 (In Italy, it’s about RM1.10 each)

On average, the price for a cloth diaper is RM75 (EUR17.50)

*These days, one can get dipes for as low as RM25!

Total money spent on diapers

RM4560 (EUR 1062)

RM2400 (EUR 560)

Savings

90%

Thus cloth diapers would only cost between RM1800 – RM 2500 which is equal to 90% savings. Although the table above states that one can buy sized diapers, I think its even more cost saving to buy one-sized diapers like I did. They are adjustable and can usually fit a 3kg baby till potty-trained.

The best part is that these cloth diapers may last for one or more successive children and your savings doubles or even triples.

How about laundering expenses? Cloth diapers will usually mean an extra one to three loads of laundry a week, but if everyone were to weigh the extra costs of their electricity, water usage, and detergent, I think they would be pleasantly surprised. These costs are still low if compared to the cost of expensive disposable diapers.

Cloth Diapers Are Better For the Environment

Disposable diapers require thousands of tons of plastic and hundreds of thousands of trees to manufacture. After a few hours of active service these materials are trucked away, primarily to landfills, where they sit, neatly wrapped packages of excrement, entombed or mummified, for several hundred years.

Waste from disposables diapers are the 3rd largest single product in the waste stream behind newspapers and beverage containers. The urine and feces in disposable diapers enter landfills untreated, possibly contaminating the ground water supply.

When you consider the unnecessary depletion of our valuable forests, the huge volume of garbage created, the toxic air and water pollution and the potential health risks to children, it is very difficult to comprehend how washing and reusing cloth diapers could ever be considered an inconvenience. They are a rewarding investment all around. A financial investment, an investment in our children’s health, and an investment on our planet earth!

– Dioxin, which in various forms has been shown to cause cancer, birth defects, liver damage, and skin diseases, genetic damage, is a by-product of the paper-bleaching process used in manufacturing disposable diapers, and trace quantities may exist in the diapers themselves. Dioxin is listed by the EPA as the most toxic of cancer related chemicals.

– Tributyl-tin (TBT) – a toxic pollutant known to cause hormonal problems in humans and animals.

– Sodium polyacrylate. If you have ever seen the gel-like, super absorbent crystals in a disposable than you have seen this first hand. Sodium polyacrylate is the same substance that was removed from tampons because of its link to toxic shock syndrome.

No studies have been done on the long-term effects of this chemical being in contact with a baby’s reproductive organs 24 hours a day for upwards of two years. Studies have also been done to show that the chemical emissions from disposable diapers can cause respiratory problems in children.

Cloth diapers, on the other hand, are free of the many chemicals contained in disposable diapers.

Seeing that there are some sales going on in Malaysia in conjuction with the Malaysian Mega Sale, I took the opportunity to purchase some cloth diapers online and got it shipped to my sister’s house in Malaysia, and another batch to a friend’s house in Singapore. I realized that it would be a pricey purchase and hence decided to start early and not buy everything in one go. That would most likely cause the other half to blow a fuse freak out, and hence the step-by-step purchase. Of course, it is always best to buy a few first to see which brand and type suits your baby best before purchasing more. Unfortunately, I do not have that luxury as it is close to impossible to get good deals here in Italy, and thus, buying in Malaysia would be a much more economical solution, what with the mushrooming of blogshops offering competitive prices. Sigh, I do wonder why just about *everything* in Italy is so much pricier. Even purchasing goods from Ebay Italy can be quite pricey!

That said, here’s my first stash of cloth diapers (or popularly known as fluffy mail amongst cloth diapering moms) that arrived in the mail. These are cloth diapers from Bumgenius, and the solid coloured Bumgenius’ are from their latest series, Bumgenius 4.0. The one with designs on them are from the Bumgenius Artist Series. The rest are from Happy Heinys, another well known American producer of cloth diapers. I can only hope that bubs will be able to wear them all sans any problems.

This blog is turning into a baby blog isn’t it? Oh well, I’ll just go with the flow and embrace whatever life throws me. Bubs isn’t here yet and our lives are ALREADY revolving around him/her!

I must say though, that I am enjoying every minute of it 🙂 I have always been that girl who melts when she sees an ADORABLE pair of baby shoes. Heck, there was once I seriously contemplated buying a pair of baby Nikes and to put them as an ornamental piece in my house simply because it was too damn adorable. And no, I wasn’t married then, and most definitely not preggers. And now, muahahah, I actually have the LICENSE to actually buy these items! *rubs hands in glee*

After much arguing discussing, we finally decided on the big ticket items for baby. We were initially deciding between the Stokke Xplory stroller, the Concord Neo stroller and the Bugaboo Cameleon Stroller. The Stokke is indeed eye catching, what with it’s elevated position, but most shop owners warned that it is bulky and is difficult to fit into cars, unless one has a car with a big bootspace. Which is something our little car does not have. So then, it was a toss up between the Concord Neo and the Bugaboo Cameleon. Concord is German and Bugaboo is Dutch.

Concord Neo

Bugaboo Cameleon

The main criteria we looked for in our strollers were:

1) Good suspension and manouverability. The nerd engineer in the hubs couldn’t help but to test the suspension of the wheels and he/we loved the Concord and Bugaboo’s good wheel suspension

2) Brakes activated by hand. I had no issues with brakes at foot level, but the hubs preferred that the stroller we chose had brakes that is at hand level, which both the Concord and Bugaboo had.

3) Weight. Of course there are umbrella strollers out there are very light, but we wanted something that wouldn’t be too heavy for a stroller that is in this category. The Bugaboo weighs 8.62 kgs and the Concord weighs 10.6kgs. (Information retrieved from their respective websites).

Both the Bugaboo and Concord pretty much fulfilled the criteria we wanted, making it a lot more difficult for us to decide. Of course, the price factor is another matter. The Concord was slightly cheaper by about EUR200. I was however, loving the bright colour options of the Bugaboo. We went to three different baby stores to try out the strollers, and finally we decided to try out the Bugaboo again before deciding on which to buy. And whaddaya know, that particular store was having a 20% discount on all items above EUR200 on that day, and so the discount factor made us decide on the Bugaboo. Hubs who was initially leaning towards the Concord said “Ok, we’ll take it (the Bugaboo) immediately when he heard of the discount. This particular shop doesn’t stock the Concord, hence it made it easier for us. Phew! I happily chose the Cameleon in a nice cheery orange shade.

Since there was a discount going on, and discounts do NOT come by often here in Modena, we thought we’d buy some other items too.

I reckon that this tub would come in handy since we do not have much space in our bathrooms. The Flexibath comes in a myriad of colours, but we bought the transparent one in case of uhhh…poopy accidents happening. Reckon it would be easier to spot LOL.

– Aveeno toiletries

Aveeno Baby Wash and Shampoo

As I will be delivering in Malaysia, I don’t want to stock up on too much toiletries all at once for our home in Modena. I figured something pretty basic would do. I’ve heard lots of good reviews on Aveeno, especially if a baby is prone to eczema (touchwood) or other skin ailments.

Of course, there’s also the baby crib which has not been set up yet, for it’s far too early.

We bought our crib and mattress from good ol’ Ikea. Crib is the Hensvik model, and the mattress is the Vysssa Somnat.

Ikea Hensvik crib + Vyssa Mattress

The reason I wanted an Ikea crib was simple. It was simply because I wanted a crib that would be able to double up as a child’s bed once baby is bigger. As can be seen from the image above, one side of the crib is removable so the little kiddo can climb in and out of bed when he/she is bigger. Italy has some really REALLY lovely nursery items, and some of their cribs are so beautiful but mighty expensive and I haven’t come across a decently priced crib-cum-bed in any of the regular baby shops here.

Other purchases we have made include books. Some of these books were bought way back last year 😉 while the famous breastfeeding book by Jack Newman arrived just yesterday. I try not to overload myself with information, but I think these books are pretty much essential, especially the top and bottom ones. What Every Parent Needs To Know is a book that the hubs bought, and I started reading it, and found it quite interesting, especially where it concerns sleep training etc, but I reckon I’d finish Jack Newman’s breastfeeding book first before completing the former.

Trying to think ahead, I also got a nice friend to help me purchase an Ergo Performance baby carrier. I will be flying back to Italy when bubs is about 2 months old, and I figure a baby carrier would be great help. There are LOADS of baby carriers out there, all kinds of shapes, sizes and functions, but since I live in ulu Modena, I have to decide on one as there aren’t many/any shops that stock these, and shipping would be expensive too. There was a Parenthood fair in Midvalley, KL, Malaysia last week, and Alesia kindly helped me to buy this at a promo price of RM391. Usual price would be around RM480. Since I will be using this when bub would be really small, I’d need to get the infant insert too, but that can wait till I get back to Malaysia.

As it’s not too “girly” looking as many ring slings and pouches are, the hubs would be able to use it too. Thanks again for your help Alesia! I LOVE the feeling of getting a good bargain 😉

I feel a little more relieved having purchased these items, as I’m a wee bit concerned about the whole going back home to deliver in Malaysia thing, and having to come back to Italy and ensuring that bubs has all the necessities ready in our home in Italy too.

Next week we will check out wardrobes for bub’s room, as we’re not going with the usual chest of drawers, as we want something that would last us much longer.

I have also been researching cloth diapers, as I am keen to cloth diaper as it saves lots of money in the long run, and is also good for the environment. And as usual, yours truly is being all kiasu and gung ho coz I need to get the items when I’m back in Malaysia! I hope the hubs doesn’t freak out at the initial start up cost of these cloth diapers, although he has been quite supportive of it thus far. ( I sayang this guy loads, he patiently listens to my explanation on things and usually lets me have the last say) Can we all say awwww? 😉 As of now, I am leaning towards Bumgenius diapers after all the good reviews I have read about them. Other good brands are FuzziBunz and Rumparooz I reckon. They don’t come cheap, but if it’s gonna save us money in the long run, then I’m all for it. Anyone with info on group buys/discounts on cloth diapers especially Bumgenius, do let me know!

So phew, there you go, a looooong update on preparation for bub’s arrival. The hubs travelling oh so often for work makes it difficult for us to buy stuff, so whenever he’s around, we go searching for stuff. And Modena being a small town, we have to search even harder for items. The nearest Ikea for instance is a good 45 minutes away on the highway. Times like these, I do miss KL and it’s proximity to everything. *sniffs*

Oh well, we win some, we lose some don’t we? 😉 At least I have a loving, supportive other half who has been amazing throughout this pregnancy. Let’s hope this continues babes 😉 else I’m gonna make bubs love ME more.